Conventional internal combustion engines generally include a plurality of hydraulic valve lifters which are positioned in receptors within the engine. The valve lifters facilitate the opening and closing of the valve associated with the various cylinders of the engine, and are positioned between, and engage, the push rods and the various cams of the cam shaft of the engine. Should inspection or replacement of a lifter be required, the lifter must be dislodged from its receptor and retrieved from the interior of the engine, and, heretofore, in order to accomplish the removal of the lifters, substantial portions of the engine had to be disassembled to gain access to the lifter. In order to avoid disassembly of the engine, various tools and devices have been constructed to facilitate the removal of the lifters. One such tool is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,719, However, such tools tend to be difficult to use and, whereas certain tools avoid extensive disassembly of the engine, they do little to simplify removal of the lifter.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic valve lifter removal device for removing valve lifters from an engine.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a hydraulic valve lifter removal device which does not require extensive disassembly of the engine to accomplish the removal.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a hydraulic valve lifter removal device which both dislodges the lifters from their associated recesses and retrieves the dislodged lifters from the interior of the engine.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a hydraulic valve lifter removal device which is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain.